Because of my comments on the two Fat Rants videos (which were a bit misunderstood I guess), now I'm being called ignorant. Indeed. My response? Ignorance is bliss... for although I love myself now, and love all my friends - fat, skinny or otherwise - I am a realist. It is unrealistic to gloss over the substantial consequences of being fat by saying that if one just loves oneself the way they are, then all will be right in the world. That's a load of crap.
I will surely love myself into an early grave if I don't choose to fix my weight. I will love myself into diabetes, heart disease and other obesity related co-morbidities. I would challenge the notion that you should "just accept yourself as you are". Surely you can rise to the challenge of loving yourself as you are, but loving yourself enough to not stay where you are. We must all strive to better ourselves, lest we become sure victims of our own self-indulgent tendencies.
I would absolutely love to have 'Miss Fat Rant' as my dear friend. I love people who tell it like it is, and if she wanted to stay fat - so be it. If she wanted to loose weight, so be it. It wouldn't change my friendship with her, but if she was in pain, and she was suffering from weight related issues... I would tell her the truth: That the solution is weight loss and the final result of not doing so would obviously be ongoing pain and worsening of the same.
So love yourself? Of course - YOU are so worth it, so worthy and so beautiful EXACTLY how you are today. But also love yourself enough to strive to be better because you can be. And I don't mean "thin = better". I mean healthy, active, balanced living is the goal and the results will be secondary but worth it as well.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Ignorance... is bliss?
Posted by JenB at 3:33 PM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I apologize that by saying your comments were ignorant that you heard me saying you were ignorant. I do not know you well enough to say that.
But you are saying thin equals better. What if you did not have the mobility issues and other health problems? Would you still want to lose weight?
The idea that weight loss is the fix for everything--not true. What will you do when you lose fifty pounds and discover that it has done nothing to fix your mobility problems? I have lost nearly a hundred pounds and my diabetes is just as out of control now as it was at 270lbs. Weight is not always the answer to all that ails us.
What bothers me about your statements is that you imply that if someone is fat, they are inevitably going to be sick, they are going to continue to get fatter, and they are going to end up dying in pain at an early age. This is the same offensive assumptions the general public makes that fuels discrimination against fat people, making us all want to hide and to seek out miracle weight loss solutions in order to fit in. This is what the fat acceptance movement is trying to fight. Why is it so bad to want to accept your body, no matter what size it might be? Does my being fat make me less worthy of respect than you? Does your being bigger than me make you less deserving of my respect than someone thinner?
I fully support your decision to lose weight, if that is what you want. I understand your frustrations, because they are mine as well. I simply believe that the issue of fat and fat acceptance is larger than you seem to express. I want to be thin and svelte, just like any other woman. I want to be healthy and live to see my four children grow up and get married...society tells me I won't live that long and it depresses me. But at the same time, this is my life, I should have the right to live it the way I want without society pressuring me into looking the way they want me to look. God gave me the body I was meant to have, the diseases I was meant to deal with, and the life I am meant to live. Give me the benefit of living this life without being told I am doing it all wrong.....just like I hope you are given the right to do.
You believe weight loss is the answer to everything. I hope for you it is. However, I see your frustrations and wonder if it is really all worth it...which is the lesser of the two evils?
Does it make sense to make yourself sick in order to cure what ails you?
Post a Comment